


The Secret Inside of You

by 1719



Series: The Boy Who Ran [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: BAMF Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Ben is a little shit, Eldritch, Five Loves His Siblings, Five is a tough bastard, Five is more powerful than even he knows, Ghosts, I rewatched the series four times, Let Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) Say Fuck, Mausoleum, Mentions of Luther/Allison but in passing, Poor Klaus, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, The Naming of the Hargreeves Children, Time Travel, Vanya has the patience of a saint, and the commission knows it, drug mention, if you can't tell the author isn't a fan, im kidding i need a beta please help me, no beta we die like men, sibling dynamics, so much research went into this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-12 13:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19132600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1719/pseuds/1719
Summary: He was done being furious about the fact that dad had ranked him behind his idiotic siblings. He knew he was better. And Five knew that his father knew that as well, it was just another way to try and control him, to keep his under his thumb.He didn’t care. He was Number Five, and he was done playing his father’s games.-The storm gathers on the horizon while Five, Ben, and Vanya form ranks.





	The Secret Inside of You

“You’re going to die and I won’t shed a tear at your funeral.” Ben yelled from the courtyard, making Five peer at him over the edge of the roof. 

 

“You’re the one who said I needed to relax! I find this relaxing.” He yelled back as Seven stuck her head out of one of the second story windows below him. 

 

“Lighten up Ben!” Five snickered at the pun, and Ben groaned. “Five knows what he’s doing, and you’re here in case something goes wrong!”

 

“I don’t think Eldritch monsters want to be used for grabbing idiotic twelve year olds out of the sky!” He yelled back, and Five grinned. 

 

“Good thing you’re in charge, not them.” He yelled, and backed up from the edge of the roof so he didn’t have to see Ben’s bitchface. 

 

“Ready?” He heard Seven yell, and he took a deep breath, crouching into a runner’s start, feet digging into the gravel. 

 

“Always.” He yelled back, and waited for the signal. 

 

“PULL!” Ben yelled, and Five watched the red ball Seven threw out the window sail through the air, up up over the rooftop. 

 

He took off sprinting. 

 

Five launched himself off the edge of the roof, the wind tearing the laughter out of his mouth as he fell through the cool spring air. He spotted the red ball falling about eight feet away from him, and he narrowed his eyes as quickly calculated the wind velocity and final trajectory-

 

He yanked the space tendrils around him and disappeared in a blue flash as they enveloped him, reappearing right besides the red ball. He grabbed it and glanced at the rapidly approaching ground about fifteen feet away and ripped a hole below him, falling through and reappearing standing besides Ben. 

 

The whole process took less than three seconds, but Five felt like he just won a marathon. He felt  _ alive _ . “Yes!” He cried, thrusting the ball above his head in victory, and Ben laughed besides him. 

 

“I mean, that is a fairly large ball and Seven didn’t throw it very hard, I’d be disappointed in you if you didn’t catch it.” He said dryly, and Five glared and chucked the ball at him. 

 

“Ready for a challenge?” Seven called from the window, and the boys looked up to see her holding up a golf ball, smirking. 

 

Five scoffed. “You call that a challenge? Please.” 

 

“Oh yeah? Two at once then.” Ben grinned, holding up his ball. 

 

“Done. Just let me know when you’re ready.” With a twist of his wrists he was back up on the roof, ten feet behind the edge. 

 

“PULL!” Ben yelled, and Five narrowed his eyes, waiting for Seven-

 

“PULL!” 

 

Five didn’t wait to see the balls rise above the rooftop, he took off running and jumped off the building, turning to lie on his back facing the sky. He put his arms behind his head like he was reclining, winking at Seven as he fell past her window. 

 

“JUMP ALREADY!” He heard Ben yelled over the whistling of the wind in his ears, and Five rolled his eyes and spotted the red ball out of the corner of his eye. He summoned the grid like a mattress under him, falling into it and reappearing besides the red ball, grabbing it and shoving it into his pocket. 

 

Seventeen feet from the ground, give or take. He opened another hole and jumped to one of the wider window ledges on the fourth floor, grabbing onto the ornamentation for balance as he scanned the air for the golf ball-

 

There!

 

He jumped off the window ledge into a hole, emerging about four feet away from Ben. He checked his watch and waited two seconds before sticking his hand into the air.

 

The golf ball landed squarely in his palm. 

 

“Show off.” Ben grumbled, but Five could hear the laughter in his voice. 

 

“I thought you said you were gonna give me a challenge.” Five taunted, tossing the golf ball to Ben and digging the red ball out of his pocket. 

 

“FIVE!” He heard a new voice yell, and he and Ben both spun around to see Two burst out into the courtyard, eyes wide and face pale. 

 

“What?” Five snapped, crossing his arms as Two approached. He  _ had _ to come and interrupt. 

 

“Oh- I- Oh.” Two abruptly stopped his approach. “I saw you falling past my window and I thought you were-”

 

“Thought I was what?” Five demanded impatiently, and Ben put his hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Five, he thought you jumped.” He said softly. Five frowned at him, unable to comprehend why his brothers were so dense. 

 

“Of course I jumped, that was the point of the whole game.”

 

“No, like.  _ Jumped, _ jumped.” Ben explained, and Five’s eyes widened. 

 

Oh.  _ Oh _ . 

 

“It’s a game!” Seven yelled from a first floor window, leaning out a little bit too far for Five to be comfortable. “We’re throwing balls and Five has to catch them all before they hit the ground.”

 

“And I start on the roof.” Five added. 

 

“Want to join? Five was just complaining that we weren’t making it hard enough.” Ben offered. “We still have twenty minutes of free time.” 

 

Two looked hesitant, glancing up at the mansion. Five sighed in exasperation. 

 

“C’mon, anything is better than pretending not to notice One sneaking into Three’s room and doing god knows what.” Five called irritably, throwing the red ball at Two’s head. 

 

Two’s hand shot up and caught the ball before it hit him. “You want a challenge?” He smirked, tossing the ball between his hands and looking at Five. 

 

“Bring it. I’ll be on the roof.” 

 

-

 

“Well this is fantastic.” Five huffed, flopping down on his new bed.

 

“I don’t understand this at all. What is the reasoning behind moving all of  [ our bedrooms ](https://atalana.tumblr.com/post/183540818647) ?” Ben asked, running a hand through his hair. “And what’s with putting us two floors above everyone else?”

 

“There has to be a reason. He doesn’t do anything without a reason.” Five got up and paced the length of his new room, spinning on his heel as he reached the wall. “ _ What is it _ ?”

 

“Ok. Let’s think through this. Mom said it’s because we’re growing and we need more space. That’s bullshit, Four and Seven’s rooms are smaller than they were before.”

 

“The only people who really got an upgrade are One and Three. Besides, if it was just that, our rooms would be arranged by numerical order. No, there’s a another reason for this reshuffling.”

 

“Yeah, Seven would be up here with us. So let’s think about where we all are.”

 

“One and Three are right next to each other. Which is strange, you would think Dad would want to separate them because of that weird insesty thing they have going on.” Five took a second to shudder. God, that was weird. Whatever. It kept them out of his way. “And then Two’s besides the stairs.”

 

“And those are all pretty nice rooms. They’re the biggest, the best views, best location. They haven’t done anything to piss off Dad, so I guess that’s their reward.” Ben shrugged, climbing on a chair to look on top of the wardrobe. “Camera.”

 

“And another by the window. But onto Four and Seven. They’ve got the short end of the shaft. Their rooms are miniscule. But why? What have they done?” Five pondered, walking out to the window and staring down on the alleyway. 

 

A garbageman emptied the dumpster. 

 

“I mean Four has his drugs. You know dad hates that.” Ben climbed back down, moving to stand besides Five at the window. “Killer view.”

 

“Ok why does he do that? Why the drugs?” Five demanded, turning to look at Ben.

 

“I don’t know. He won’t tell me, but I’m pretty sure it has to do with his private training.” Ben admitted. “I think it’s really bad. Worse than ours.”

 

“I’ll need more information before I can do something about that. As far as I know his private training doesn’t take place on academy grounds, which is weird.” Five thought out loud, turning the problem over in his mind. As far as he knew Four’s power wasn’t exactly useful, so why was Reginald pushing him so hard? What was there left to train him for?

 

Ben sighed. “I’ll try and find out. Maybe sometime between highs.”

 

“You’ve got the best chance of finding it out, he won’t even look at me.” Five laughed bitterly. “Teamwork is going to be fantastic on our first mission.”

 

Ben snorted, turning away from the window. “It’s going to be a disaster. I heard Pogo telling Mom it’s going to be soon though. She’s making us battle uniforms.”

 

“Oh Jesus.” Five groaned, covering his eyes with his hand. “Please tell me they’re not spandex.”

 

“I can’t promise you anything. But back to the issue at hand. So Four gets a shitty room because of the drugs. But what about Seven? She doesn’t do much of anything, how could she have pissed dad off?” Ben wondered. He sat down of Five’s bed, dust flying up around him. “Lovely.”

 

“You think Mom would have dusted or something before we moved in. To answer your question, though, it’s isolation. Haven’t you noticed the lengths dad goes to isolate Seven? He doesn’t let her train with us, barely lets us see her, makes her feel like she’s less than us because she doesn’t have powers, and our siblings are buying into it. I think that’s why he moved us up here. We’re the closest to her, and this will make meeting with her a lot more difficult.” 

 

Ben nodded, face twisting into a scowl. “He’s a bastard.”

 

“That’s old news Benjamin Franklin.” Five cracked a grin, flopping down on the bed next to Ben. “But we’ve gotta work with what we’ve got.”

 

“Well then. Let’s get to work.”

 

-

 

“Are you  _ kidding me? _ ” 

 

“No. I wish I was. I can barely believe it myself.” 

 

“That’s because it’s completely fucking insane! Jesus, just when I thought he couldn’t get any worse- I thought he was at least intelligent! This isn’t just cruel and sadistic, this is just plain stupid!”

 

“I know. Believe me, I know. So what are we going to do?”

 

“We need to figure out where it happens.”

 

“So we need to break into his office.”

 

“Probably. But when we find out where, we have to be subtle. I’m thinking I can remove all of the corpses, which will take a while but it would mean that-”

 

“There won’t be anything there, and no reason for drugs.”

 

“Exactly. And if necessary I could jump in with him for the night, leave right before dawn. Dad’ll be none the wiser.”

 

“Excellent. So we break in tomorrow during lessons?”

 

“Group training. More chaos, easier to slip away.”

 

“I’ll cause a distraction, you jump?”

 

“I’ll put the cameras in our rooms on loop while I’m in there.”

 

“And we’re definitely taking him with us, right?”

 

“Yes. We can’t tell him about the plan yet though, he can’t keep his mouth shut even when he’s sober.”

 

“Yeah true. I’ll work on that with him, try stealing the drugs, convincing him to stay clean.”

 

“Alright. And aft- Shit! Footsteps!”

 

“Jump,  _ go! _ ”

 

-

 

“Hey Mom.” Five mumbled as he stumbled down to the kitchen at two in the morning, half delirious from not having slept in- he checked his watch. 53 hours. Damn, alright. Reginald was away on business, so Five decided to risk the trip down to the kitchen to try and find some source of caffeine.

 

“Hello, Number Five.” Mom replied, looking up from her notepad on the table. “Can I get you a nice warm glass of milk to help you sleep?”

 

“I don’t suppose you’ll make me some coffee.” Five smiled hopefully at Mom, but she chuckled indulgently and shook her head. 

 

“Your father doesn’t approve of that, you know this. Here, since you’re up, come and help me.” She gestured for Five to sit besides her, so Five walked over, resisting the urge to jump the six feet between them. 

 

Jumping while sleep deprived was a bad idea. He had only done so successfully once, back when he figured out how to jump without moving, but honestly that was dumb luck. The last time he tried he was running on about two hours of sleep over two days, and he had overshot Ben’s room and ended up in the greenhouse on the roof, and it  _ hurt _ . Not as bad as when he time traveled, but he thinks he didn’t tear through the surface of the space continuum properly and got caught on some jagged edges that had wrapped too tightly around him and- he wrote all the math out, he didn’t want to think about it now. Honestly, the worst part was he left half his clothing behind, so he had been forced to slink back into the academy shirtless and barefoot. 

 

Six had found it hilarious until Five hit him over the head with his shoe and threatened to send all his pants to Africa. 

 

“What is that?” Five asked as he scanned the yellow notepad, frowning as he read down a list of names. “Who are these people?”

 

“Your father asked me to pick out names for you six for your birthday before your big public debut. Isn’t that exciting?” Mom smiled her perfect smile at him, and Five felt a flare of excitement quickly dampened by a wave of dread. 

 

“There’s seven of us.” He pointed out, praying that his intuition was wrong, surely his father wouldn’t go that far-

 

“Seven is not part of the Umbrella Academy, so your father didn’t see a reason to name her.” Mom frowned and scratched Henry off of the list, and Five grabbed her hand, halting her efforts. “Is something wrong?”

 

“You have to give Seven a name.” Five pleaded desperately, the uncharacteristic rush of emotion visibly startling Mom. “She’s already excluded enough, not being named would kill her mom, you have to give her a name.” He begged, taking Mom’s hands and squeezing them, feeling the cool metal rods that lie just beneath the surface. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a blue tendril flare brightly before disappearing, which set his nerves on edge. He had a working theory on what those tendrils were and what they meant, but if he was right the ramifications were enormous, and frankly terrifying. He kept it to himself for now, he needed to wrap his head around it before he could tell Ben.

 

“I’m sorry Five, but your father was very clear that I was to only name six of you.” Mom’s voice broke though his thoughts. She pulled a hand free and swept Five’s hair out of his eyes, then caressed his cheek. “You look so tired, would you like a warm cup of milk to help you sleep?”

 

“Wait, six? He said you had to name six of us, right?” Five asked, frantically latching onto the loophole. 

 

“Well yes, I suppose he did.” Mom frowned, looking back down at her list. “What do you think of Charles for Number One?”

 

“Mom, I don’t want a name.” Five ignored her question, resolution settling in his bones. “Give Seven my name, she needs it more than I do.” Mom slowly smiled at him, understanding and something like pride dawning in her mechanical eyes. 

 

“Well, your father did not specify which six of you would get names, so I suppose that is perfectly acceptable.” Another name was crossed off the list, and Mom turned back and smiled at Five. “It is a shame though, I had the most lovely name picked out for you.”

 

“My name is Five.” Five declared, and he meant it. 

 

He knew it was fucked up.  _ He  _ was fucked up. So what? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t a number, he wasn’t one of his dad’s science experiments anymore, wasn’t his child soldier. He was more than a ranking. He didn’t belong to his father.

 

He was a person. His own person.

 

He was done being furious about the fact that dad had ranked him behind his idiotic siblings. He knew he was better. And Five knew that his father knew that as well, it was just another way to try and control him, to keep his under his thumb.

 

He didn’t care. He was Number Five, and he was done playing his father’s games.

 

Five glanced down the list of names, scanning until he found what he was looking for. 

 

“I think Ben is a good name for Six.” He fought back a smirk, and Mom smiled her always-perfect smile, putting her hand on top of his.

 

“I agree. Thank you so much for helping me, Five.” He was wrapped in a hug, and Five stiffened, unable to relax into it, abruptly realizing he couldn’t let his guard down, not where there were cameras everywhere and Mom was probably recording this and Reginald would see it and-

 

“Now, you get yourself into bed young man, don’t think your father will go easy on you in training just because you’re tired.” Mom scolded, and Five bit back a sigh.

 

“I need to double check some equations, I think I have the entropy of the Space-Time vortex equation calculated but there’s always one factor that always bites me in the ass-“

 

“Language, Number Five. Go to sleep, you’re a growing boy, not a mathematician.” Mom laughed, taking his elbow and escorting him to the staircase and helping him up the first few steps.

 

“Goodnight Number Five. I love you.” Mom- _ Grace _ smiled, and Five’s heart broke a little. 

 

“Goodnight.” He whispered, and he hated himself. 

 

-

 

Five remembers his first jump. Well, his first conscious jump. He is told he jumped all over in his sleep as a small child, scaring his nannies and siblings to half to death. 

 

But his first intentional jump was when he was four. There was an analogue clock on the top shelf in the kitchen, Five wanted to know how it worked. Pogo and Grace weren’t around, and he really wanted to see the clock, take it apart, figure out how time itself worked. 

 

A foolish notion, obviously, but curiosity has always been one of his most powerful motivators. All Five knew was one second he was staring up at the clock from the floor, the next he was in the air in front of the shelf, clock in his hands.

 

Then he fell.

 

He remembers pain. He remembers throwing up as he fell onto the counter. He remembers hearing his arm crack as he hit the floor.

 

He also remembers looking over to see the clock still clutched in his hand, glass face broken, second hand still ticking. 

 

-

 

“I hate you.” Ben said from the doorway, but when Five looked up Ben was smiling, and Five sighed in relief. He could only deal with placating one slighted sibling at a time. He had somehow fucked up with Vanya earlier, he still had to figure out where he had gone wrong in the first place and how to fix it, plus the time tendrils wouldn’t leave him alone tonight, which was driving him insane. It felt like they were trying to pull him somewhere-sometime- but he brushed them off. He had more important things to do. 

 

He was  _ so close _ to figuring out how to time travel at will. While sticking a fork in a socket worked, he couldn’t rely on that. Plus, he needed to figure out how to jump with other people, his whole plan was moot if he couldn’t figure that out, and he had no idea where to even start with that- Ben’s private training is tomorrow morning, he has to figure out how to piss dad off enough at breakfast in order to get Ben out of it-

 

Five abruptly realized Ben was still standing in his doorway, and he cleared his throat. “What did I do now?” Ben rolled his eyes and crossed the room to sit on the bed besides Five, shoving aside various physics textbooks. 

 

“So Mom just named me Ben, and I had the strangest feeling that you had something to do with it.” Ben crossed his arms, smirking. “Any reason why?”

 

“We may have had a conversation.” Five shrugged nonchalantly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

 

Ben kicked his shoes off, pulling his legs up to assume his usual cross-legged position. “Thanks, Five. Or did Mom give you your name yet?” He asked, and Five shook his head. 

 

“I didn’t want one, I don’t see the point. I’m alright with Five. It’s me.” 

 

His room felt claustrophobic; the walls were closing in on him. Five jumped off his bed, making a beeline for the window. He opened it, climbing onto the fire escape, knowing Ben would follow. 

 

“See, I don’t believe that.” Ben said from the window. “You’ve always hated the fact that Dad ranked you fifth anyway. So what’s the real reason?”

 

“To see Dad squirm when reporters ask why I have a number instead of a name and I tell them exactly why.” Five said shortly, brushing away a stray time tendril dragging across his cheekbone. 

 

“Nope. One more try.” Ben said pleasantly, and Five groaned and stared up at the night sky, cursing his existence and his brother alike. 

 

“Why does there have to be a reason? Maybe I just don’t care what people call me.” He said flatly, pivoting around to glare at Ben’s silhouette. It was too dark to see his face, but Five knew his brother, knew he wasn’t going to give up. 

 

God fucking dammit, why couldn’t anything just be easy for once in his life?

 

“Because I know you have feelings, no matter what act you put on for the rest of our siblings. C’mon, I won’t tell anyone.” Ben pressed, climbing out the window and sitting on the floor of the fire escape, motioning for Five to sit next to him. 

 

Five sighed and joined him, picking at a hole in his sock. He trusted Ben. He would keep quiet. “He wasn’t going to give Vanya a name. He told Mom to give six names; I found the loophole and convinced Mom to give my name to Vanya. But it’s fine. Five is mine now, not his.”

 

“There, was that so hard?” Ben nudged Five’s shoulder with his own. Five just stared straight forward at the city skyline, a cold breeze blowing past them. 

 

He just wanted to leave. He didn't want to have to fight for basic human decency in this goddamn house anymore. He had so much to figure out, so many calculations to finished, he had mathematics to fucking  _ invent _ . He shouldn’t be sitting here, he had so much to do-

 

He was just so tired. 

 

“I guess not.” He whispered eventually, and he felt Ben stiffen besides him. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Ben asked softly, but Five just shook his head, staring straight forward. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to acknowledge the crushing of his lungs, the tension that refused to leave, the nights spend writing on the walls, ending with him gasping for breath as the air slowly suffocated him and the tendrils wrapped themselves around his  _ corpse- _

 

He needed to go back to his equations and just work until he found a way out and just  _ leave _ . “Five.” Ben breathed, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “It’s ok. I won’t tell anyone.”

 

“I hate him. I hate him  _ so much _ .” Five hissed, trying to turn this weakness into fury, into something  _ useful _ , but his eyes stung, and he viciously swiped at hem with his sleeve. “ _ I hate him _ .”

 

“I know.” Ben said softly, not pushing, and this was why Five liked Ben best. They sat in silence, shoulders pressed together for warmth. Five got his emotions under control, roughly wiping his eyes until all signs of moisture were gone. 

 

“You can’t do this alone.” Ben broke the silence, and Five’s bristled in annoyance, raw from his mini breakdown. Was he not working fast enough for Ben? What the hell did he even think Five was doing? It’s not like Ben could just fucking hand him the secret to time travel, what did he expect Five to do? 

 

“Oh really?  _ I’m _ the one who needs to figure out how to use my powers to escape,  _ I’m _ the one who Dad fucking has it out for,  _ I’m _ the only one who seems to realize how fucking screwed up this goddamn family is-” Five clapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself before his voice broke. God _ damn  _ it.“What else do you want me to do?”

 

“Let us help you.” Ben replied immediately and Five scoffed, rolling his eyes and trying to suppress a shudder as tendrils brushed up and down his arms.

 

“Alright then. How about you and Vanya calculate how to generate a torus big enough to encompass all three of us that’s stable enough to not crush or rip us apart at at the quantum level while I work on the calculations on how to create an electric field around myself to draw from in able to time travel.” He said scathingly, and he could do this. Anger was easy, he could deal with anger. Ben would get fed up and leave and the Five could get back to work. 

 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Ben expression was stony, and Five could tell he was fighting to keep control of his emotions. 

 

Good. Just a little bit more. 

 

“Well if you can’t do that then I fail to see how you can help me.” He shrugged nonchalantly, glancing at Ben out of the corner of his eye. Ben had come a long way in a year, Five reflected briefly. The Horrors no longer reacted to his strong emotions, Ben had figured out a way to completely seal off the portal within his chest until he reopened it. It was getting the Horror back in once the portal was opened that was the problem.

 

“Oh cut the bullshit Five.” Ben hissed, his fists clenching. “You think you’re so much better than us, protecting us, but you know what? You’re just fucking selfish.”

 

Five gaped. Out of all the things he thought Ben would say that had not even been a remote possibility. “Excuse me?” He demanded, irritably swiping away a time tendril that tried to wrap itself around his leg. They won’t  _ fucking _ leave him  _ alone _ . It vanished slowly as it drifted away, no sign that it had ever existed.

 

“We’re not helpless Five! Do I hate my powers? Yes! Of course I fucking do, there’s a literal eldritch that uses my chest as its front door. But you know what else hurts? Hiding behind the basement door until Dad is finished with you so I can make sure you’re not lying unconscious on the floor, or worse!” Ben yelled. Both boys glanced immediately at Five’s bedroom door with baited breath, making sure they hadn’t been overheard, before turning back to their argument.

 

“I can handle it! At least my extra sessions are useful, because in case you’ve forgotten- I’m the one who needs to figure out my powers so we can escape! Or did you want to stay here?” Five challenged, and another tendril wrapped around his goddamn  _ throat _ , and he didn’t know what the hell was going on with them tonight, but he ripped it away, the claustrophobic feeling returning, and he needed to run, he needed to get out of here-

 

“Stop putting everything on me! You goddamn know I want to leave. But this is about you killing yourself because you think you’re invincible! Why won’t you let us help you?” Ben demanded, and another tendril wrapped around Five’s ankle, and he was  _ done _ .

 

He kicked the tendril away and made a move to jump, but Ben’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. Five froze, immediately sealing the half-opened warp. They remained at a standstill, time slowing to a halt around them. 

 

“Let go of me.” Five’s voice was low and dangerous, but Ben tightened his grip, eyes glinting in the moonlight. 

 

“No.” 

 

Five wasn’t going to stop. He  _ couldn’t _ stop. Someone had to look out for his siblings, and he was best equipped to handle it. He would master his powers if he just kept working, just kept pushing. 

 

He couldn’t stop. Too much depended on him. And if Ben was going to stand in his way, Five would just go through him. 

 

Ben’s eyes narrowed, but his grip on Five’s wrist loosened. “Fine. When you’re ready to stop being an insufferable martyr you know where to find me.” 

 

Ben loosened his grip on Five’s arm and started to turn away, and Five’s heart froze. His hand shot out and grabbed Ben’s sleeve. Ben stopped, and turned around slowly. 

 

“Don’t. Go.” Five got out, dreading losing this anchor on reality, and in that moment it all came crashing down. Everything Ben had tried to say, his exhaustion, the claustrophobia,  _ everything _ . “ _ Fuck _ .”

 

He was teetering on the edge of a cliff, the tendrils and equations threatening to drag him down into their depths, time and space closing in and suffocating him, the only thing keeping him from falling was Ben’s grip on his wrist. 

 

Five wobbled on his feet, and Ben hurriedly lowered both of them back to the ground, not letting go of Five’s arm. They collapsed onto the metal floor of the fire escape, Five barely managing to keep from hyperventilating. 

 

“Breathe, Five. In and out.” Ben murmured, squeezing his hand and wrapping his other arm around Five’s shoulders. “Just breathe.” 

 

Five squeezed his eyes shut and nodded, trying to breathe past the cement in his lungs. 

 

Time passed. Eventually Five’s breathing settled, and he slowly opened his eyes, gaze flicking sideways to look at Ben. Ben wasn’t looking back, just staring up at the cloudy night sky. Five looked up as well, watching a plane passing overhead, the red blinking light passing through the sky. 

 

“I just want you to talk to me. You’re killing yourself, and I won’t stand by and let that happen.” Ben broke the silence after a minute. Five drew in a shuddering breath, fingers clenching around Ben’s sleeve. 

 

“Alright.”

 

-

 

“Holy shit.” Five laughed, looking at himself in the mirror, then glancing back at Ben and Vanya, who were staring at him with wide eyes.

 

“This is so weird. You look like a completely different person.” Ben said slowly, walking up to Five and squinting at his reflection. “You look almost normal.”

 

“You look good, Five.” Vanya chimed in, grinning. “Green is a good color on you.”

 

Five laughed again, shoving his hands into the hoodie pocket. “Thanks.” 

 

“And you left money for all this, right?” Ben demanded, holding up a grey and black leather jacket. 

 

“Yes, you can wear it without moral misgivings.” Five rolled his eyes, and threw a light blue button down at Vanya. “Try this.”

 

Vanya smiled and made quick work of the buttons, pulling it on over her academy uniform. Ben put on the jacket, rifling through the duffel bag. 

 

“Why didn’t you get any girls clothes for Vanya? You just got guys clothes in varying sizes.” Ben commented, and Five rolled his eyes. 

 

“Please. When have you ever seen Vanya happily wear a skirt?” Five asked, discarding the hoodie and pulling off his shirt to try on one of the band t-shirts he grabbed from the department store last night. 

 

“Oh. Right, sorry Vanya.” Ben muttered, and Vanya shrugged it off. 

 

“No biggie, I’ll leave the skirts to Alison. Pants are more comfortable.” Vanya flashed a smile at Five, who winked and leaned back against the wall, surveying his slings throwing clothes around the room. 

 

They spent the rest of their designated fun and games time trying on street clothes and modeling for each other, and eventually Ben and Vanya teamed up to give Five a complete makeover, which he allowed begrudgingly because it had been too long since he'd seen Vanya smile like that.  


 

It was worth it. 

 

-

 

“Klaus. Hey, Klaus. Look at me.” Five hissed, kneeling in front of his brother.

 

“No, nononono, go AWAY!” Klaus’ voice rose to a scream, and Five resisted the urge slam his hands over his ears, or better yet, jump away from this situation entirely. 

 

“ _ Klaus _ !” He raised his voice, trying to decide whether grabbing Klaus’ hands and making him to look at Five would make the situation better or worse.

 

Fuck it.

 

Five grabbed Klaus’ hands and forced them away from his ears, trying to get in Klaus’ line of vision. “Klaus!”

 

Klaus’ wide eyes finally focused on him and Five sighed in relief, dropping his hands. “Finally. Which spirit is worst, I’ll rob their grave and dump their corpse in a river.” 

 

Klaus’ eyes fixed on Five, who tried for a reassuring smile but he got the feeling he fell short, judging by the way Klaus’ face paled. 

 

“Five?” Klaus whispered, and oh fuck he was crying more what should he do, god dammit this is why he needs to figure out how to jump with other people because Ben was so much better at this shit than he was- “Oh my god,  _ Five _ .”

 

Klaus looked like he was about to say more but he flinched violently away from Five, curling in on himself even more, which Five previously hadn’t thought possible. Even though he knew it was useless he glanced around him, finding nothing but darkness.

 

“Alright Klaus, you’re gonna have to work with me.” Five tried again, maneuvering so he was sitting besides Klaus. “I won’t be able to get rid of all of them tonight, but I can get rid of the worst. And that is assuming that the ghosts will leave with their corpses. Alright, this plan has more holes than I thought, but I’m here so I might as well try.”

 

“What happened?” Klaus whimpered, uncurling so he was pressed up against Five’s side, allowing Five to feel his entire body trembling. Five held back a groan and wrapped his arm around Klaus’ shoulders like Ben did for him when he couldn’t stop shaking. Klaus immediately wiggled himself somehow closer to Five, completely encroaching on his personal space, and Five was going to have to take a  _ bath  _ to wash this entire experience off. 

 

“Ben and I stole Dad’s training log, figured out where he took you, and when Vanya told us you weren’t in your room I jumped here. Dad doesn’t think I can handle long distance jumps, I’m keeping it like that for the time being. So-”

 

“You died. You jumped too far and you died and now you’re here and oh my god  _ Five- _ ” Klaus sobbed, practically in Five’s lap at this point, and Five’s blood froze.

 

Oh. Oh  _ shit _ . Klaus thought he was dead. Oh dammit, he really hadn’t thought this through.

 

“Klaus, I’m alive. I’m corporeal, you can touch me. Here,” Five grabbed Klaus’ hand and put it over his heart, “feel. It’s beating. I’m alive. I’m here.”

 

Five could hear Klaus’ rattling breaths start to slow and steady, and he started to let go of Klaus’ hand.

 

Well. He tried to. Klaus grabbed on and kept both their hands over Five’s heart, his hand nearly crushing Five’s. Five stilled and glanced sideways at Klaus, whose eyes were fixated on their joined hands. 

 

“You’re here.” Klaus breathed, and Five sighed in exasperation. 

 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Now, corpses. If I get rid of them, will the ghosts go away? There’s no way I can get you out of doing this every time, but I figure spending the night here without screaming spirits is better than with. So, I saw a Wilma Brega on the far left wall, shall I start with her?” Five asked, but Klaus just tightened his grip of Five’s hand.

 

“Just stay. Here. Please.” Klaus said quietly. Five sighed, running the calculations in his head. If he didn’t get started on the corpse removal tonight he’d have to add another two nights onto his removal plan which pushed back his schedule for escape planning unless he just shaved an hour off sleeping on weeknights-

 

“Fine.” Five sighed, sliding down and making himself comfortable. Well, as comfortable as he could be on the floor of a goddamn mausoleum. Seriously, what the  _ hell  _ was their father thinking?

 

“Look at us, brotherly bonding over the screams of tortured souls.” Klaus crooned, throwing his other arm around Five’s shoulders. “We should make friendship bracelets!”

 

“I will cut off both your arms.” Five muttered, but even he could tell that the threat was hollow. Klaus flinched imperceptibly, sucking in a quick breath, and Five glanced up, uselessly trying to locate the cause.

 

“I’ll fucking rip your throat out.” He threatened the empty air for lack of anything better to do, and he heard Klaus huff a laugh from besides him. Five quirked a grin and leaned his head back against the cement wall, and Klaus put his head on Five’s shoulder. Five allowed it, scanning the darkness around them for potential threats. Finding none he dropped his head on top of Klaus’ and pulled his brother closer, trying to stop Klaus’s trembling. 

 

The air grew cold around them.

 

-

 

“Five!” Klaus called down the hall the next morning. Five glanced behind him, tightening his tie with one hand while bookmarking his page in Advanced Quantum Physics with the other. He briefly considered strangling Klaus with his tie, anything to shut him up before he screwed both of them over, but ultimately he decided against it. He didn’t go without sleep last night to just waste his efforts the next day. 

 

“What do you want Klaus?” He sighed, turning to face his brother. He had no idea how Klaus had this much energy, he couldn’t have had more than half an hour of sleep. Five was running on autopilot and the coffee that he stopped to get after he jumped out of the mausoleum. 

 

Goddamn Reginald’s caffeine ban.

 

“So,” Klaus began, catching up to Five and slinging an arm around his shoulder, “I was thinking after last night we definitely need to make friendship bracelets, maybe wear matching nail polish-”

 

_ Shit _ . 

 

“Klaus, what are you talking about?” Five interrupted, stopping and scowling at his brother. 

 

“You know, last night! You and me, Four and Five, brothers facing off against the screaming spirits of hell. Mausoleum bros! A big fuck you to dear old-”

 

There was a movement around the corner. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. How high are you Klaus?” Five rolled his eyes, shaking Klaus’ arm off. “I spend last night in my bed. Sleeping. Because that’s what you do at night. What are you going on about, mausoleums?”

 

“But I- you-” For the first time Five could remember, Klaus was at a loss for words. “Weren’t you there?” 

 

“Klaus, I spent last night in bed. Go sober up before training, I don’t need Dad being even more of a hardass because he’s pissed at you for being high.” Five dismissed him, turning away and walking to the stairwell.

 

“But I’m not-” Klaus trailed off. When Five glanced over his shoulder he saw Klaus hadn’t moved from where Five left him, he was just staring at Five, confusion and hurt clearly painted across his face.

 

“Don’t be late to breakfast.” Five tossed over his shoulder as he turned and walked down the stairs. “Hey Pogo.” 

 

He walked past his father’s assistant, and flipped off the security camera as he saw it turn to follow him down the hall.

 

Klaus physically can’t keep his mouth shut, and if Reginald found out what Five did there would be hell to pay for both of them. He had to be harsh. 

 

He would make it up to Klaus later. Keeping him alive was more important.

 

-

“Oh my god, get it off get it off get it off-“

 

“Five, calm down. Just sit still.”

 

“I can’t- Vanya, it’s in me. This is why I fucking hate outside training. Oh my god.”

 

“Ben, can you get me some tweezers? Five, calm down, it’s ok, this is common.”

 

“I am calm! I can control space and time itself, they bend to my will, I am more powerful than all of you can ever possibly comprehend-“

 

“Yes Five, you’re very powerful. Now just take a deep breath and stay still, I’m going to pull it out. Ben, can you get me some rubbing alcohol?”

 

“Here.”

 

“No, no I changed my mind, I want Mom-“

 

“Stop being a baby and let Vanya pull the stupid thing out!”

 

“Alright you know what Ben, how about you get a fucking blood sucking disease carrying parasite embedded in your scalp and let’s see how you fucking handle it!” 

 

“Five, it’s just a tick, calm down!”

 

-

 

“Alright. You ready?” Five asked, jumping around Ben, checking his straps and properly securing his goggles.

 

“Yes, and can I say again I feel ridiculous?” Ben complained, flexing his shoulders against the confining material of the jumpsuit.

 

Five rolled his eyes, exchanging an annoyed glance with Vanya. Well, his glance was annoyed, Vanya just rolled her eyes at the two of them. “Excuse me for trying to protect you from the inescapable void of space. You know what, take the suit off, you won’t have to worry about feeling ridiculous, or feeling anything at all for that matter.”

 

Ben sighed. “Because I’ll be dead?”

 

“Because you’ll be dead.” Five flashed him a shark-like grin, then stepped back, admiring his handiwork. “Vanya, what do you think?”

 

He had created Ben a suit composed of primarily dacron, a material astronauts used in their suits. The material was stolen from a medical laboratory a few miles down the road, making that one of his furthest jumps yet. Once he jumped back to the academy afterwards he nearly simultaneously passed out and threw up, but he got the satisfaction of looking Reginald in the eye the next morning and listening to Reginald tell him he wasn’t ready for long distance jumps.

 

Ignorant bastard. 

 

But on the subject of Ben’s suit. Black dacron, hopefully to keep Ben from getting compressed into an infinitely small speck of matter, never to recover. The goggles were half to protect his eyes from possible wind or whatever the hell else, half because they did in fact look ridiculous and Five thought it was hilarious. 

 

“Five, you don’t wear all that when you jump, why does Ben have to?” She asked, tapping her pen against her chin.

 

“Because we don’t know what affects spatial jumping will have on his body! I was built for it, I was meant to do it, but Ben isn’t. Well, he might be. I’m still a little confused as to how exactly he accesses the Horrors. Or they access him.”

 

“Let’s not talk about them.” Ben interrupted. “Five, let’s just do it.” He adjusted the goggles again, nerves leaking into his voice.

 

Well, that wouldn’t do. They had to do this fast before Ben realized exactly how much of Five’s confidence was faked.

 

“Alright.” Five jumped to his side. “Our target is Vanya’s room. Vanya, if you would?” 

 

“The time is thirteen fifty three and twenty three seconds.” She recited, checking the watch Five gave her. “Good luck guys.” 

 

“I don’t need luck.” Five tossed back, standing directly across from Ben. “Close your eyes. Please remain completely still. You might experience some discomfort.”

 

Before Ben could reply Five summoned the spatial grid into existence. He stared around him, taking in the tangible air, the drifting tendrils, the rigid strands locked into shape, then he moved.

 

He began flitting around Ben, making micro jumps as he gathered space tendrils, yanking them from their place on grid, manipulating them until he held in his hands the fabric of space-time itself, bunching around his fists. He almost laughed out loud, the faint electricity buzzing through his body, racing through him, the sheer amount of  _ power _ in his hands-

 

Five turned back to Ben, jumping to his side. “Don’t move.”

 

Five warped to directly across from Ben, marveling at how much easier jumping was the longer he remained in this dimension. Or. The dimension was him. He wasn’t sure of the details, he honestly felt kind of giddy. He grabbed Ben’s hands, letting the tendrils envelope Ben’s fists, run up his arms.

 

He focused until they Ben was completely enveloped in a bright blue glow. Ben’s hands were still clenched around Five’s, and Five took a deep breath. 

 

In and out. 

 

He was in control. 

 

Five  _ yanked _ , focusing on Vanya’s room in his mind, and they was there.

 

“Oh my god.” Ben groaned from besides him, but Five paid him no attention. 

 

It worked. It  _ worked! _

 

“Take deep breaths. Don’t throw up on Vanya’s floor.” He advised Ben, who was now doubled over, groaning.

 

“Is this what jumping always feels like to you? I think I’m going to die.” He got out, and Five shrugged. 

 

“You get used to it. Deep breaths.”

 

“I have a whole new level of respect for you man.” Ben panted, finally straightening up. “Radio Vanya, tell her it worked.”

 

“Too loud. Klaus might wake up. Hold your breath.” Five grinned, jumping over and grabbing Ben’s arm. Now that he knew what to do, it was easy. Gather space around them, make sure Ben was completely enveloped-

 

They reappeared in Five’s room, making Vanya jump and throw the pocket watch at them.

 

“Are you oka-”

 

Ben threw up on her shoes. 

 

-

 

“Done.” Five growled, standing in front of Reginald, empty straitjacket and metal chair draped with chains behind him. 

 

“Acceptable.” Reginald replied, making an note in his journal. “And you’ve sufficiently mastered object displacement?” 

 

“Yes.”

 

“This concludes your private training for the time being. Go rejoin your siblings for lessons.” His father instructed, not looking up from his journal. 

 

Five steeled himself, drawing on the wells of fury and determination that had all been festering for his entire life. 

 

This was it. Months of planning, years of dreaming. For Ben. For Vanya. 

 

No turning back. 

 

“I want to time travel.”

 

-

 

At the headquarters of Temps Aeternalis, a machine starts beeping. A woman named Dot hurries over and turns the alarm off, and reads the receipt that has begun printing from the machine. 

 

“Oh my.” She whispers to herself, watching the receipt grow longer and longer until it is pooling around her feet, strings of equations and information and necessary corrections. “Oh my.” The machine finally shuts off, leaving the woman stunned, standing in a pile of paper nearly reaching her knees. 

 

The timeline has been changed. 

 

The countdown has begun. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> And with that the gears are set in motion. 
> 
> Part 3/5, we’ve started to touch on the main plotline and connect to canon, next installment shit is gonna get real. 
> 
> If anyone was interested I'm leaving my tumblr url at the bottom of the note bc html just isn't working in these notes for me and I'm too tired to figure it out tonight. Furthermore, I've realized after weeks of rereading my own work that I should probably acquire a beta, so if you’re interested hit me up in the comments or on tumblr. I promise I’m not as mean as I sound in these notes, I’ve just been channeling Five to write this for so long that I can’t break from his personality in time to write the notes bc literally as soon as I finish the final edit my brain is like !!! post now!!! no wait!!
> 
> On my sideblog I will be beginning to post outtakes and writer’s commentary, so if you’re into that kinda thing, and the link to that can be found below the link for my mainblog. It’s basically empty atm, but content will come. 
> 
> Over halfway there, cheers nerds. See you next time.
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/chillin-on-nonexistent-mountains < Main
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/five-the-assassin < Side


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